{"id":60885,"date":"2016-11-23T04:44:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T11:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=60885"},"modified":"2016-11-23T04:55:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T11:55:56","slug":"psychoanalytic-novels-of-simon-navagattegama-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/11\/23\/psychoanalytic-novels-of-simon-navagattegama-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychoanalytic Novels of Simon Navagattegama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

“Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan novelist Simon Navagattegama used a series of mystic symbols in his famous novels -Sansaranyaye Dadayakkaraya (The Hunter of the Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra Monastery) and in Dadayakarayage Kathawa (The Hunter\u2019s story). These novels can be regarded as the best psychoanalytic novels of the Sinhala literature. In these volumes Simon gives broader interpretation of a carried meaning and presented different conceptual systems. He used metalanguage to describe the story. The reader has to grasp the story ontologically and essential do deconstructive reading in order to get the wider aspect of the narrative.<\/p>\n

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According to Simon the hunter is a great symbol or a metaphor. This metaphor consists of\u00a0\u00a0 Androgyny or the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. He is more than a human. The hunter is a myth, crystallized undifferentiated psychic energy. The hunter symbolizes the human soul that travels through Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra which is the repeating cycle of birth, life and death. Although the Buddhist philosophy rejects the concept of an immaterial and immortal soul, Simon implies that hunter could be the karmic force that transcends to different psychic levels.<\/p>\n

Cosmic Law of Cause and Effect\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Karma is\u00a0the law of moral causation.\u00a0Karma is symbolized as an endless knot.The hunter\u2019s moral and immoral volition fuels his journey through Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra.\u00a0\u00a0The hunter\u2019s cycle of rebirth is determined by\u00a0his\u00a0karma.<\/p>\n

Simon uses his knowledge in Buddhism, Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology to craft this great metaphor. The hunter is surrounded by a mighty forest and he faces numerous\u00a0obstacles in his great journey.\u00a0 However he\u00a0goes in to a psychic transformation which is an experience of awakening and illumination. He is subjected tospiritual maturity and psychological healing through his voyage.\u00a0It is a great recount of relations between social anthropology and psychology.<\/p>\n

Simon narrates the\u00a0psychic transformation of the hunter\u2019s emotional experiences, his phantasies, dreams and dream-thoughts. The hunter\u2019s phantasies are lucid. These phantasies are imaginative fulfillment of frustrated wishes mostly unconscious. Some of the\u00a0phantasies\u00a0are symbolic figures.<\/p>\n

Sansaranyaye Dadayakkaraya (The Hunter of the Samsara Monastery) and Dadayakarayage Kathawa (The Hunter\u2019s story) represent numerous psychoanalytic symbols which stem from the unconscious mind. According to the Psychoanalytic notion symbols are not the creations of mind, but rather are distinct capacities within the mind to hold a distinct piece of information. Some of the symbols are created by collective unconscious. These areuniversal themes, archetypes and primordial images.\u00a0These are the structures of the unconscious mind which are shared among beings of the same species. The hunter shares common\u00a0archetypes such as the ferocious leopard, the musk deer, the monk, the goddess etc.\u00a0These symbols carry important socio cultural meanings.<\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s symbols are mostly from folklore, mythology and rituals and some have religious background. Simon used symbols in his novels hiding the conventional meanings.<\/p>\n

The hunter is influenced by his unconscious processes.\u00a0Also his conscious perception is based on unconscious inferences.\u00a0 His ongoing experience, thoughts, and actions signify great meanings.\u00a0His socially unacceptable ideas, motives, desires, and memories associated with conflict, anxiety, and emotional pain are being repressed. However some psycho biological\u00a0instincts emerge despite the cultural and religious barriers.<\/p>\n

Simon Navagathegama used different metaphors to describe the cultural, social and anthropological icons. These metaphors represent numerous abstract and complex concepts. The great Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra is\u00a0generally\u00a0depicted\u00a0as the wheel or Bhavachakra. Bhavachakra\u00a0is a form of a\u00a0mandala. According Carl Jung mandala is the psychological expression of the totality of the self.\u00a0But for Simon\u00a0the psychological expression of the totality of the self\u00a0is the hunter and the mighty forest represents Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra.<\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s some metaphors have their origin from the Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is known as the Great Vehicle. Simon has used Mahayana philosophical and devotional texts to illustrate the hunter\u2019s perceptions.<\/p>\n

The Mahayana concept accepts the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest. Bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion and has a noble wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Bodhisattva is one of the four sublime states a human can achieve in life. As explained by the Ven. Dr. Walpola Rahula the Mahayana mainly deals with the Bodhisattva-yana or the Vehicle of the Bodhisattva. Simon used the Lotus Sutra of Mahayana\u00a0to discuss emptiness and a sense of timelessness in his novel. Although the\u00a0 \u00a0hunter\u2019s journey is long it is purposeful as well as meaningful.<\/p>\n

Simon discusses universal truth revealing the hunter\u2019s journey through the wilderness. According to Bertrand Russell meaning and truth\u00a0examines the relation between our language and the world. Meaning and truth are the nurture of the mind (de Corti\u00f1as, 2013). In these novels meaning and truth\u00a0were\u00a0conceded by the author. The reader has to make an extra effort to dig in to the hunter\u2019s mind to extract meaning\u00a0and truth<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The hunter\u2019s mind is filled with unconscious phantasies. It is argued that unconscious phantasies are inherently metaphorical and have no ‘concrete’ existence in the unconscious (Colman, 2005). He has sexual phantasies too. These phantasies include dominance, submission, sexual pleasure, and sexual desire. The hunter\u2019s sexual daydreaming, masturbatory and coital fantasies are vividly narrated by the author.<\/p>\n

The hunter meets with a goddess in the forest and they become attracted to each other. Hence they make love and create a union.\u00a0They are woven together.\u00a0Their sexual union shared with physical and the spiritual bliss. The transformation of desire occurs and the hunter and the goddess achieve ecstasy of love.\u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0facilitates heightened states of awareness in the hunter. He achieves self-evolution and self-involution. The hunter was connected to the universal energy.<\/p>\n

Simon uses Tantric symbolism throughout these novels. Tantra has been called the\u00a0“cult of ecstasy and it combines sexuality and spirituality in one great union.\u00a0Tantric\u00a0archetypes\u00a0can be detected in many places in the hunter\u2019s legend. According to Jung\u00a0archetypes are patterns of instinctual behavior. He believed that when the archetypal level of the collective unconscious is touched in a situation, there is emotional intensity as well as a tendency for symbolic expression.<\/p>\n

Simon discusses meaning of life in these novels. The meaning of life is a philosophical as well as a spiritual question According to the life mission theory; the essence of man is his purpose of life, which comes into existence at conception. Nietzsche stated that purpose of life is will to power, wants to be master of itself and around itself and feel itself master. The hunter is thriving for power by overcoming obstacles in the forest.<\/p>\n

The hunter is not a moral being. Simon discloses the dark side of the hunter\u2019s psyche. There is an evil side of man, called the “anti-self” (the\u00a0shadow), because it mirrors the self and its purpose of life. The core of the anti-self is an evil and destructive intention opposite to the intention behind the life mission. The evil side of man arises when, as the life mission theory proclaims, man is denying his good, basic intention to avoid existential pain. (Ventegodt et al., 2003). Carl Gustav\u00a0Jung\u00a0called the\u00a0evil side of man as the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0anti-self, or\u00a0shadow.<\/p>\n

In Jungian psychology, the shadow or “shadow aspect” may refer to an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself.\u00a0The shadow comes from both the personal and the collective unconscious and contains the primitive, uncivilized elements within us that are unacceptable to society and are generally repressed (Smith & Vetter, 1991, p. 103). Generally, the shadow represents traits and attitudes that are the negative or evil side of the personality that people either fail to recognize or deny exists (Hall, 1989, p. 33).<\/p>\n

Simon discusses evil side of the villagers as well as of the hunter. The village largely represents sin and hypocrisy. The concept of sin is ambiguous. However Simon posed two questions -what is sin? \u00a0and what is merit? \u00a0\u00a0The Christian model of sin began to emerge in the medieval period and the early Renaissance period.\u00a0In Abrahamic contexts, sin is the act of violating God’s will. Warner (2010) states that in Buddhism there is no concept of sin at all. In Buddhism there is no original sin and\u00a0sin<\/em>\u00a0is largely understood to be ignorance.\u00a0Mainly the\u00a0sin<\/em>\u00a0is understood as moral error.<\/p>\n

Simon depicts Patichcha Samuppadaya or the cycle of existence in the novels. The forest is the Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra and the dwellers are affected by\u00a0Kama-Tanha<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Craving for sensual pleasures\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bhava- Tanha<\/em>\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0 Craving for existence and\u00a0Vibhava- Tanha<\/em>\u00a0– Craving for non-existence.\u00a0 Ignorance or avijj\u0101 is the inevitable result of being born and wandering in endless journey through Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra. The hunter is drifting in the mighty forest also known as Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra.<\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s stories touch the taboo subject of incest. Silk (2008) stated that incest plays a central role in the narrations of the origin stories of many traditions, generally in highly mythologized ways, recounted in stories. According to the basic Buddhist story, the sons of a certain king Okkaka were banished and went into exile with their sisters. The version in the Ambattha-sutta of the Theravada Digha-Nikaya (Long Discourses) says: Out of fear of the mixing of castes they cohabited together with their own sisters (Silk 2008).<\/p>\n

In ‘Totem and Taboo’ (published in 1912-13) Freud did analytic exploration. He developed his theory of object relations and his ideas about the inter-subjectivity of unconscious mental life (Grossman, 1998). Freud discussed incest and its psychodynamics. Freud’s thinking about incest, placing it within the context of childhood sexuality (Alvin, 1987). When people contemplate incest and its consequences, they simultaneously consider two quite different issues: the issue of intentionality and blame, and the much more troubling and dumbfounding issue of what society would be like if incest were to be permitted (Astuti & Bloch, 2015).<\/p>\n

Incest and illicit sexual relationships take place in the village. The hunter witnesses sinful realties in front of his eyes. He is ambivalent about the life style of his fellow villagers.\u00a0\u00a0Incest\u00a0barrier is broken and moral degradation takes place. Yet the villagers consider the hunter as the sinful person who violates the first Buddhist Precept -abstaining from harming living beings.<\/p>\n

Although by nature the man is evil \u00a0\u00a0man has a free will, acknowledged by philosophers of all times, and by using this will man can either do good or become engaged in evil intentions and by doing so, assumes often grotesque and inhuman forms (\u00a0Ventegodt et al., 2003). Simon concurs with man\u2019s free will.<\/p>\n

The hunter reflects the human ancestral past. There is a human tendency to hate the shameful past. The truth is 20,000 years ago we all were hunters. There is a hunter in each one of us. Our collective unconscious carries some elements from our predatory days. These impulses are threatening and shameful. Therefore the villagers (morally) banish the hunter. This banishment is a form of excommunication. The hunter is being excommunicated from the village spiritual circle. However the author indicates that the hunter bears strong spiritual elements.<\/p>\n

Human suffering has become the innermost theme in Simon\u2019s novels on the hunter. Suffering is a human condition. As Edna Lake states all forms of existence whatsoever are unsatisfactory and subject to dukkha.\u00a0 Mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.\u00a0Karl Jaspers believed that death, suffering, struggling, guilt, and failing affect human beings grimly.\u00a0The modulation of mental pain in a container-contained relationship is a central problem for the development of the human mind (de Corti\u00f1as, 2013).<\/p>\n

Diehl 2009) indicated that the emotional, cognitive and spiritual suffering of human beings cannot be completely separated from all other kinds of suffering, such as from harmful natural, ecological, political, economic and social conditions. In Agamemnon, Aeschylus said that humanity is fated to learn by suffering (Oreopoulos, 2005). Similarly Simon points out that\u00a0dukkha\u00a0or suffering is a part of the hunter\u2019s great journey and it helps transforming him. However he further explicates\u00a0that dukkha is not simply despair or hopelessness, it has a deep philosophical meaning.\u00a0\u00a0With\u00a0dukkha the hunter\u00a0finds some meaning in life. The hunter realizes dukkha\u00a0and the cessation of\u00a0dukkha.<\/p>\n

The hunter meets a monk who lives in the jungle. He is a spiritual teacher who practices meditation. He isabsolutely free from lust, greed, anger and egoism.\u00a0The monk\u2019s goal is\u00a0to become enlightened and reach nirvana. He is eliminating all greed, hatred, and ignorance and attains nirvana where there is no suffering.\u00a0 The monk is no longer part of the cycle of reincarnation and death.<\/p>\n

The hunter is passionately attached to a deer which Simon calls Kathuri Muwa (musk deer). He is eagerly seeking the deer in the jungle. Kathuri Muwa is a wider form of representation which refers to the father figure or totem animal. Kathuri Muwa becomes hunter\u2019s fantasy which is an imaginal representation of bodily instincts and urges.\u00a0 His attachment to Kathuri Muwa (musk deer) prolongs his journey in the forest. At this point narration of the hunter\u2019s inner mind takes the reader in to a more spiritual world disregarding the hunter\u2019s past sinful acts. When the hunter finds the musk deer he sees the reality and the true nature of the craving. Now the hunter has no greed for the musk deer. The hunter has become a super human\u00a0(\u00dcbermensch or Overman) uplifting his spirit much higher than the fellow villagers. The hunter has seen the truth and liberated himself from craving<\/p>\n

References\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alvin,R.(1987).Freud, Psychodynamics, and Incest.Child Welfare, v66 n6 p485-96.<\/p>\n

Astuti, R., Bloch, M. (2015).The causal cognition of wrong doing: incest, intentionality, and morality.Front Psychol.\u00a0\u00a0 18; 6:136.<\/p>\n

Colman, W. (2005).Sexual metaphor and the language of unconscious phantasy.J Anal Psychol. 50(5):641-60.<\/p>\n

de Corti\u00f1as, L.P.(2013).Transformations of emotional experience.Int J Psychoanal.\u00a0 ; 94(3):531-44.<\/p>\n

Diehl, U. (2009).Human Suffering as a Challenge for the Meaning of Retrieved from Life.\u00a0http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/paideia\/existenz\/volumes\/Vol.4-2Diehl.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Grossman, W.I. (1998).Freud’s presentation of ‘the psychoanalytic mode of thought’ in Totem and taboo and his technical papers.Int J Psychoanal. ; 79 ( Pt 3):469-86.<\/p>\n

Hall, J. A. (1989). Jung: Interpreting your dreams—A guidebook to Jungian dream philosophy and psychology. New York.<\/p>\n

Oreopoulos, D.G. (2005).Is There Meaning in Suffering?\u00a0 Humane Medicine, Volume 5.<\/p>\n

Silk, J.A. (2008). Incestuous Ancestries: The Family Origins of Gautama Siddh\u0101rtha, Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 20: 12, and The Status of Scripture in Buddhism. Retrieved fromhttp:\/\/www.buddhismandsocialjustice.com\/SILK\/Silk_Incestuous_Ancestries.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Smith, B. D., Vetter, H. J (1991). Theories of personality (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.<\/p>\n

Ventegodt, S., Andersen, N.J., Merrick, J.(2003).The life mission theory V. Theory of the anti-self (the shadow) or the evil side of man. ScientificWorldJournal. 11;3:1302-13.<\/p>\n

Warner, B. (2010). Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between. New World Library. p. 72.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.\u00a0 “Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Sri Lankan novelist Simon Navagattegama used a series of mystic symbols in his famous novels -Sansaranyaye Dadayakkaraya (The Hunter of the Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra Monastery) and in Dadayakarayage Kathawa (The Hunter\u2019s story). These novels can be regarded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-ruwan-m-jayatunge-m-d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}